Freedom Of Speech Not License To Transgress Limits Of Decency: Madras High Court Denies Anticipatory Bail To AIADMK Women's Wing Leader

Dismissing the anticipatory bail petition filed by AIADMK's State Deputy Secretary of the Women's Wing- Amudha, the Madras High Court highlighted that though the Constitution of India guarantees the fundamental right of speech and expression however this right cannot be taken advantage of to cross the limits of decency. While doing so, Justice AD Jagadish Chandira also noted that the petitioner had used derogatory statements against the former Chief Minister, present Chief Minister and his family members, uttering "unethical, filthy and unparliamentary" words. It said: “Though the petitioner had commenced to praise the former leader of their party with a few lines, thereafter, she had chosen to utter many derogatory statements against the late former Chief Minister, the present Chief Minister and his family members, other present Cabinet Ministers and other members of the party with many unethical, filthy and unparliamentary words, which, this court is not inclined to reproduce even for the sake of reference. While freedom of speech is guaranteed under the Constitution, this court feels that such a right cannot be taken advantage by anybody to cross the limits of decency,” the court noted. Further, though Amudha pleaded that she may be pardoned, the court noted that her affidavit of apology was without any remorse or regret and without whole hearted repentance. The court noted that through clever drafting, Amudha had attempted to justify her speech which the court was not satisfied with. “A perusal of such affidavit shows that the petitioner, claiming to be the State Deputy Secretary of Women Wing of a political party, has not even shown any remorse or regret whole-heartedly for having delivered such a speech with most vulgarity, instead, the contents of the affidavit discloses that by way of clever drafting, an attempt is sought to be made to justify her speech,” the court said. The allegation against Amudha was that while delivering a special address in the celebrations of the 116th birthday of Arignar Anna, former Tamil Nadu CM, she had abused the government and its policies and defamed the Chief Minister and his family members. While seeking anticipatory bail, Amudha argued that she belonged to the opposition party and the party conducted meetings against government policies that affected the public. She submitted that the speech was made in the course of one such meeting and that the present complaint had been lodged in an attempt to curtail the voice of the opposition party. Amudha further submitted that she had not caused any public disturbance and no one from the public had lodged any complaint. She contended that though the speech was made on September 22nd, the complaint was lodged after a month on October 18th. The court was however not inclined to accept this argument. On perusing the FIR, the court noted that the FIR was registered after getting instructions from the higher officials and opinion from the public prosecutor and thus such a delay could not be taken advantage of. Thus, considering the circumstances, the court was not inclined to grant anticipatory bail and dismissed the petition. Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr. Iyyapparaj Counsel for the Respondent: Mr. S. Santhosh, Government Advocate (Crl. Side) Citation: 2024 LiveLaw (Mad) 479 Case Title: Amudha v State Case No: Crl. O. P. No.30060 of 2024Click Here To Read/Download The Judgment

Freedom Of Speech Not License To Transgress Limits Of Decency: Madras High Court Denies Anticipatory Bail To AIADMK Women's Wing Leader

Upasana Sajeev

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